National Gallery’s director Nicholas Penny says that Trafalgar Square has become completely uncivilised, with loud music and loutish behaviour destroying the tranquillity of the Gallery, the Times reports.

Dr Penny is so concerned by the “bloody awful” state of London’s central square that he would prefer to restore the road that separated it from his gallery before a £25 million redevelopment programme in 2003.

“It’s impossible for anyone in my position not to really want the traffic back,” he told The Times yesterday.

“The chief result of pedestrianisation has been the trashing of a civic space . . . Official agencies not only fail to protect historic buildings but are complicit in the destruction of a major amenity in the centre of our capital city. The conversion of the fourth plinth into a soap box or theatrical stage may be high-minded in intention but is symptomatic of this pervasive antagonism to architectural order.”

Nothing to add really, Dr Penny is absolutely right. While all nice, peaceful and traditional events at Trafalgar Square – like lighting the Hanukkah candle – are perfectly in order for the capital’s main square, it’s perfectly understandable how noisy concerts and filming of T-Mobile’s idiotic ads can frustrate the Gallery.

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